The NHRA Countdown to One playoffs is turning into a race for second place in the Funny Car division. But Jack Beckman didn’t rally this far to be in a race for second place.

Beckman, a driver for Don Schumacher Racing, is in second place in the Funny Car standings with three races to go in the Countdown, the six-race playoff to determine the champion in the Funny Car division.

Beckman is 72 points behind leader Tim Wilkerson and is two points ahead of Robert Hight and four points ahead of Tony Pedregon. Ashley Force is in fifth place, 20 points behind Beckman for second.

This weekend’s races at Virginia Motorsports Park are crucial for Beckman if he wants to stay in contention for the Funny Car championship.

“This is where it becomes a race for No. 1 or No. 2,” said Beckman, from North Hills. “This is the race where, if anybody is going to contend for the championship, Wilkerson is going to have to stumble early and we’re going to have to go to the final round.”

Beckman is a bit of an unlikely contender for the championship. After winning the Funny Car portion of the races at Firebird International Raceway in Arizona in February, Beckman and his team struggled through the spring races and into summer. He fell to as low as 13th place in the standings. But his team rallied, won races at Reading, Pa., and Concord, Va., and vaulted near the top of the Funny Car field.

He has been close to overtaking Wilkerson for the lead in the standings, but Beckman knows he’s running out of time and chances to make his move.

“It doesn’t mean that it’s over, but with 12rounds left and his having a four-round lead over everybody, you can’t let another race go away and lose those four potential rounds and have him leave with a four-round lead,” Beckman said. “It’s going to make it next to impossible to catch him.”

Wilkerson has won the past two Funny Car events and has six wins this year. Beckman made a second-round exit in Virginia last year.

“The great news is, as good as our Valvoline/MTS Dodge is running and as unpredictable as nitro Funny Car in this outrageously competitive class is this year, there’s a great chance we can make it to another final round,” Beckman said. “We can’t control what Tim does. The only thing that we can hope is that we get him in one of the early rounds. But we absolutely can control our own destiny by winning rounds.

“And I don’t want to be in a race for second; I want to be in a race for first.”

Van Nuys High graduate Larry Dixon is in fourth place in the Top Fuel standings. The driver for Don Prudhomme Racing is 190points behind leader Tony Schumacher.

Karen Stoffer, a graduate of St. Genevieve High School in Sun Valley, is 10th in the ProStock Motorcycle standings, 239 points behind leader Matt Smith.

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